Possibly the second one may have been found, according to Kahoku Shinpo. What's different in this case is that the child was immediately categorized as "C" in the 1st round of screening. Category C is "in need of immediate second testing", according to the Fukushima prefectural guideline.

Fukushima Prefecture has been conducting the thyroid testing of about 360,000 children under the age of 18 to understand the effect of radiation due to the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident. It was revealed on November 17 by the source that they found one child during the initial screening who may have cancer and is in need of immediate second testing.

１８日に開かれる「県民健康管理調査」検討委員会で報告される。

The details will be reported in the meeting of "Fukushima Prefecture residents health management survey" committee on Novmeber 18.

Fukushima Medical University, who has been conducting the test, says "It took 4 years to find a thyroid cancer after the Chernobyl nuclear accident", and the possibility of relationship between the radiation [from the Fukushima accident] and the potential thyroid cancer is low. However, blood and tissue samples will be taken to determine whether it is a cancer or not.

１次検査による判定は、しこりの大きさなどを基に、軽い方から「Ａ」「Ｂ」「Ｃ」があり、今回の１人は「Ｃ判定」。

There are three categories, A, B and C, in the initial screening depending on the size of nodules/cysts. The child in question was judged to be in the "C" category.

In the committee meeting in September, it was reported that one child under "B" category (no immediate action necessary but conduct the 2nd test just in case) was found with thyroid cancer. However, judging from the state of the cancer, the committee thinks the cancer had already been developing before the March 11, 2011 disaster and denies the causal relationship between the radiation from the nuclear accident and the cancer.

県立医大は「県内全ての子どもの検査という前例のない調査なので、早期発見の子は少なからず出る。放射線との関係を丁寧に調べていく」としている。

Fukushima Medical University says, "This is an unprecedented study of all children in Fukushima Prefecture. So it is expected that a fair number of children are found with thyroid cancer. We will carefully study the relationship between the radiation [and the thyroid cancer]."

According to the Fukushima prefectural government (as of September 2012), the testing schedule for the cities in Fukushima is as follows (English labels are mine):

Meanwhile in Japan, for lack of anything worthwhile to do in that part of Japan (Kansai), Nara Prefectural Police arrested a man for "not working, even though he has an ability to work and he has no income, and loitering, without no fixed abode". According to the public servants at the prefectural police, that's against the Minor Offenses Act (Article 1 Item 4), the law in Japan to protect the social order.

The article linked above is from "Bengoshi (Attorney) dotcom", and you would think they would be outraged.

[Comment by one of the member attorneys of bengoshi dotcom] Loitering in itself has an anti-social element, and the point [of the Minor Offenses Act] is to strictly control loitering because it tends to be associated with criminal acts. If one is not sick, but is drunk in the middle of the day and wandering around in town, it is threatening to the citizens.

Even if there is no malicious intent on the person who wanders about without a job, it is possible that some people, including children, feel threatened. From the standpoint of maintaining the public order, therefore, it can be said that there was no choice [but to arrest the person].

Oh yes, it's for the kids. For the most part, the Japanese readers are highly approving of the police arresting this good-for-nothing man walking about during the daytime without a job and a home. What a caring society.

(I feel threatened when I see a package of green tea from Japan. Should I have the green tea arrested?)

Speaking of that part of Japan, Kansai, the boy-wonder mayor of Osaka City, who is now the deputy head of the party joined by Shintaro Ishihara for the national election, will start a test burn of the disaster debris from Iwate at the city's incineration plant designed by a world-famous anti-nuclear architect. The test burn will be on November 24.

A ship that carries 10 containers full of debris chips has departed Miyako Port in Iwate Prefecture on November 18, Iwate Nippo reports.

New intelligence indicates forces in Gaza may be manufacturing long-range rockets locally. If this is the case, a significant ground force offers the Israelis the best chance of finding and neutralizing the factories making these weapons. Meanwhile, Israel continues its airstrikes on Gaza, and Gaza continues its long-range rocket attacks on major Israeli population centers, though Israel claims its Iron Dome defense system has intercepted most of the rockets.

Israel appears to be positioning itself for a ground operation, perhaps as early as the night of Nov. 17. The Israeli Cabinet on Nov. 16 approved Defense Minister Ehud Barak's request to call up 75,000 reservists, significantly more than during Operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009. The Israeli army meanwhile has also sought to strengthen its presence on the borders with Gaza. Primary roads leading to Gaza and running parallel to Sinai have been declared closed military zones. Tanks, armored personnel carriers, self-propelled artillery and troops continue to stream to the border, and many units already appear to be in position.

During Operation Cast Lead, the Israelis transitioned to the ground phase around 8:00 p.m. on Jan. 3, 2009. Going in during dark hours allows the IDF to take advantage of its superior night-fighting equipment and training, including the use of night vision goggles and thermal optics.

The Israeli air force remained active throughout the night of Nov. 16-17, striking at targets across the Gaza Strip including key Hamas ministries, police stations and tunnels near the border crossing with Egypt. The IAF reportedly carried out strikes in Rafah's al-Sulan and al-Zahour neighborhoods, as well as east of the al-Maghazi refugee camp. According to IDF reports, the air force carried out a rapid and coordinated military strike, targeting approximately 70 underground medium-range rocket-launching sites in the less than an hour. The IDF claims direct hits were confirmed. The IAF will increasingly target Hamas militant defenses ahead of any ground invasion. Already the IAF has bombed militant defensive positions, particularly in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

Ever since the Fukushima nuke accident, all I care about is "Where is the nuke plant?" In case of Israel, the Negev Nuclear Research Center is near Dimona, in southern Israel (the map from Zero Hedge, who took it from Stratfor):

It looks like it's at a safe distance, but missiles from Gaza are reaching Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, thwarted by the Israeli missile defense system (see Christian Science Monitor article, 11/17/2012).

Friday, November 16, 2012

From Ebay, after the news that Hostess, the company that makes twinkie, is firing 18,000 workers and shutting down business rather than being bullied by the labor union into extinction (that's CEO's view, diametrically opposed, predictably, from the labor union's view):

His listing is a bargain. The highest starting bid on pre-closure twinkie is 3,000,000 dollars for 4 boxes of twinkies. If you can't wait, you can "buy it now", for 8,000,000 dollars. This seller generously offers free shipping.

The Department of Labor has announced that new jobless claims rose by a staggering 78,000 in the first week after the election, reaching a seasonally-adjusted total of 439,000. Over the past year, and in the weeks leading up to the election, jobless claims were said to be declining, dipping as low as 339,000, with the media proclaiming that they had reached the "lowest level in more than four years." Now, suddenly, the news seems far less rosy.

In the week ending November 10, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 439,000, an increase of 78,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 361,000. The 4-week moving average was 383,750, an increase of 11,750 from the previous week's revised average of 372,000.

Some of the new claims, especially in New Jersey, were due to Hurricane Sandy--but these were offset by a decline in claims filed in New York. The highest numbers of new filings came from Pennsylvania and Ohio, where there were thousands of layoffs in the construction, manufacturing, and automobile industries.

Both states had been targeted by the presidential campaigns. President Obama highlighted his record of job creation in Ohio in particular, focusing on the automobile industry. The state reported 6,450 new jobless claims in the week after the election--second-highest after Pennsylvania, which recorded 7,766 new claims.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Japan is sure unique. Probably the only "developed" nation left in the world whose financial markets go up on the word "Quantitative Easing", even with the kicker "unlimited". Even the US market has stopped responding positively to the word from the Fed officials.

Yen dumps:

Nikkei up:

For now, uber-Keynesian Japanese celebrates the destruction of the financial markets that may come with QE 4Eva under the "curry and pork cutlet". Oh wait, in Japan's case, the financial markets been broken for 20 years anyway.

According to Nikkei Shinbun, Mr. Abe also mentioned "negative interest rate" to encourage lending. As if debt is capital and wealth.

It will be made of steel frames that will weigh 1,500 tonnes, but the structure will not be fixed to the reactor building itself which has been badly damaged. Radiation levels are too high for the human workers. Instead, the structure will be supported on the ground on the west side, and against the turbine building on the east side, with points in the middle across the reactor building top floor (English labels are mine):

Minister of Reconstruction Tatsuo Hirano said in the Lower House Budget Committee meeting on November 13 that "there is no data compiled" to account for the amount for the money spent in the disaster-affected areas out of the total recovery/reconstruction budget for the March 11, 2011 disaster. It is another example of the lax treatment of the reconstruction budget.

Mr. Hirano explained that 60 percent, or 9 trillion yen has been spent, of the total 15 trillion yen recovery/reconstruction budget for the fiscal 2011 [that ended on March 31, 2012]. Of 9 trillion yen, he said he didn't know the exact the amount spent in the disaster-affected areas.

When questioned how much of the money actually spent had gone to the companies that did the actual work [of recovery/reconstruction] in the disaster-affected area, Mr. Hirano answered, "We will have to interview [the businesses] and find out. It will take time to collect the data."

復興予算が実際に被災地で使われた予算額については、現在、復興庁で集計中。

The Reconstruction Agency is now tallying the amount of money actually spent in the disaster affected area.

As it has been revealed that the projects not related to the recovery of the disaster-affected areas got funding from the recovery/reconstruction budget, the agency has decided to tally up the amount even though there was no plan to do so.

Nov 14 (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said on Wednesday he would dissolve the lower house of parliament on Nov. 16 if the opposition agreed to carry out electoral reform.

Noda was speaking in a parliamentary debate with main opposition party leader Shinzo Abe. Abe, head of the Liberal Deomcratic Party, agreed to the demand.

Noda, under opposition pressure to call an election he promised in August would be "soon", looks to be leaning towards holding one as early as next month after pledging support for a controversial U.S.-led free trade pact.

But some in his party would prefer to delay it, with support for his government at its lowest since Noda took office last year.

Japan's upper house has fixed six-year terms, with elections for half its members held every three years. Elections for the more powerful lower house can be called at the premier's discretion.

Many predict the Democratic Party of Japan will lose big in the election. Well, I'm not so sure about the big loss, but that at least will stop Goshi Hosono from becoming the prime minister. Good move, Noda.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Zero Hedge (11/13/2012) has interesting charts that shows how the Japanese consumer electronics companies and the Korean counterpart (Samsung) have diverged in terms of market caps, post Lehman:

Sony, Panasonic, NEC, Sharp have been bleeding badly for years now.

Samsung, however, pales when Apple's market cap is plotted:

That once-mighty Japanese electronics companies are stagnant and declining is discernible from their homepages. They seem to be living in the late 1990 and early 2000s that will never come back.

The websites are clean, subdued, with information well organized, nothing wrong with that. But compared to Samsung and Apple, it is apparent they don't know what to sell, what to focus. Sony emphasizes its environmentally conscious activities; again nothing wrong with that, but what about products and technology? Panasonic features a dreamy-faced young woman staring vacantly into the distance. NEC emphasizes "energy", Sharp "air purifiers", and Toshiba an entire town wired with Toshiba products.

Samsung and Apple have products that people in the world want to buy (at least for now, before Ben, Mario and Shirakawa finish destroying the financial system), and that's what they feature on their websites.

(Screenshots of their Japanese homepages)

Sony:

Panasonic:

NEC:

Sharp:

Toshiba:

Samsung:

Apple:

It was 1989 when Sony co-Founder and Chairman Akio Morita wrote a book with Shintaro Ishihara - "Japan That Can Say No". It was right before the collapse of the real estate bubble. Ever since, the government has been trying to reflate a bubble, any bubble.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Yomiuri Shinbun (11/13/2012) reports that the radiation monitoring posts in Fukushima have been the targets of citizens' anger for some time.

As I posted last week, these monitoring posts display lower-than-actual numbers because the lead batteries are placed conveniently or inconveniently so that they block the radiation to the sensors. Step away from these monitors and measure locations with turf or dirt that hasn't been replaced, and the radiation levels could easily be 20, 30% higher, as many (including Professor Hayakawa in Koriyama City) have discovered.

FNN News reports it will cost the national government 150 million yen to fix the problem. As if the government has money.

Thailand plans to formally enter talks on a U.S.-led Pacific region trade deal when President Barack Obama visits the country next week, government spokesman Tosaporn Sererak told reporters.

Thailand would become the 12th country to join negotiations in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Obama’s top trade priority. Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy would be the fifth country in the talks that does not already have a free-trade agreement with the U.S., along with New Zealand, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam.

“It represents new market access for American companies,” Deborah K. Elms, head of the Temasek Foundation Centre for Trade & Negotiations in Singapore, said by e-mail. “Thailand really must be involved in the TPP for its own economic interests. You cannot have aspirations of being part of the supply chains in Asia, especially, if you are not part of the TPP as it gets up and running.”

Obama is seeking to expand trade ties with Asia-Pacific countries as part of a so-called pivot to the region to counter China’s growing economic and military might. He plans to visit Thailand on Nov. 18 as part of his first foreign trip since his re-election that also includes stops in Myanmar and Cambodia.

The TPP expanded to 11 nations this year after Mexico and Canada were invited to join, representing about a third of global economic output. The other countries include Australia, Chile, Peru and Singapore.

...

TPP negotiators plan to meet next month in New Zealand for the 15th round of talks, which are confidential. The U.S. Congress signaled its discontent with the TPP negotiation process in June, with 132 lawmakers telling U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk in a letter they were “troubled that important policy decisions are being made without full input from Congress.”

We will arrange for the protective clothing for all participants. You are free to wear it, but use your own judgment if you wear it, and understand fully that by wearing the protective clothing and doing the decontamination you may cause fear and intimidation among the local residents. Please don't forget the residents of Onami District live there, in the areas designated for decontamination, without any protective clothing.

...Also, just to remind you, injuries and accidents, sicknesses after the work, radiation damages, and other problems are all your responsibility. Please apply, with full understanding of this fact.

Bad-ass looking, long-haired, broad-shouldered real "men" like the manga illustration above will not need any protection, will they? (Oh he has dirty-blond hair, on top of that.)

The caution about protective clothing causing fear among the locals is what the current chairman of Japan's Nuclear Regulatory Commission Shunichi Tanaka told the decon volunteers last year in Date City, Fukushima, where he was one of the radiation experts advising the city.

The organizer, On the Road Fukushima, wants 1,000 volunteers for 10 days (100 volunteers per day), at their own risk, to go to Onami District and impart cheer and vitality to the suffering residents.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

(UPDATE) Now, Noda is supposedly tired of being called a "liar", and he will dissolve the Lower House in December and call an election after all, or so some Japanese media outlets say. A few articles down, these outlets also whisper the secret plan by DPJ politicians not fond of Noda.

(Drum rolls please...)

Force Noda to resign, call the DPJ leadership election to elect Goshi Hosono, who then will become the prime minister, then PM Hosono will dissolve the Lower House and call an election, to the landslide victory for the DPJ.

In the Lower House Budget Committee meeting in the afternoon of November 12, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said, "(At that time), I felt I have no choice but use suggestive words in order to break the deadlock", concerning the promise he had made to then-LDP President Sadakazu Tanigaki in August that he would dissolve the Lower House "soon". Noda's remark was in response to the question by Ishiba Shigeru, Secretary-General of LDP.

Meanwhile, Noda's Chief Cabinet Secretary Fujimura is in his own delusional world, saying he is determined to turn around the Japanese economy which dipped into the negative GDP growth (-3.5%, on annual base) in the third quarter, so that he can tax the hell out.

I haven't known an economy that decides to prosper when it is told it will be taxed heavily. But maybe Japan is different.

At this point, all I can do is to do what's good for repelling radioactive materials - laughing out loud. LOL. Better yet, ROFLMAO, to get some more exercise.

Goshi "Do you think this craft piece is contaminated? Do you?" Hosono, ex-Minister of the Environment and current chairman of DPJ policy bureau (what policy, that's another issue), said to his eager audience in Tokyo that he is preparing himself for shouldering the burden of governing the country. Like a hero in a Greek tragedy.

DPJ's Goshi Hosono, chairman of the party's policy bureau, gave a speech in Tokyo in the morning of November 12, in which he said, "We need the vision for domestic and foreign policies that one has to have in order to carry the nation forward, and we need the network of people to realize that vision. And I want to start preparation", indicating his eagerness to run in the DPJ leadership election in the future.

While Mr. Hosono said "It's not that I have to become the prime minister", he continued, "Japan will really go down the drain without a couple of people like me. Looking at Nagata-cho [the national government] today, there are too few politicians who are preparing themselves for the governing of the nation."

Schoedinger's cat is dead; the cat is alive. It's all wonderful world of endless possibilities until you open the door, collapse the possibilities and face the reality. Many in Japan, including Hosono, have chosen to live in the endless possibilities.

(UPDATE) I think I know why Fukushima has targeted Thailand. While China, Hong Kong, Korea, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, Brunai still ban the import of Fukushima produce, Thailand only requires certificates of radiation testing. In the same category as Thailand are Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. (See the PDF from the Ministry of Agriculture, cache captured by this blog.)

=========================

Rejoice, wealthy residents of Bangkok! In addition to peaches from Fukushima, now you can buy apples from Fukushima at an inflated price.

Fukushima Prefecture will start exporting apples grown in the prefecture to Thailand, starting later this month. Apples will be sold at a large commercial complex in the Thai capitol Bangkok. The prefectural government planned the apple export after the peaches from Fukushima were well received. Officials in charge in the prefectural government is in high spirits, saying "After our peaches, the apples will help promote the Fukushima's produce as safe and delicious."

Fuji apple, entering the prime harvest season, will be exported. They will be harvested by fruits farmers in the northern part of Fukushima, and exported after the safety is confirmed by the radiation testing. Just like peaches, they will be sold at a large commercial complex in Bangkok.

Fukushima peaches were first to be exported after the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident. They were sold out, fetching 700 yen (US$10) a piece.

原発事故後、中国、韓国、台湾など東アジア各国はほとんどの県産品の輸入を停止している。

After the nuclear accident, east Asian countries such as China, South Korea and Taiwan have halted the import of almost all produce from Fukushima.

I see. So they have targeted Southeast Asian countries. Thailand, of all places, whose citizens and royal family have been very friendly to Japan.

Northern Fukushima where the apples will come from is the same area where the peaches came. Quickly checking the official monitoring (= sampling) test of apples in Fukushima, there are apples found with small amount of radioactive cesium this year:

About my coverage of Japan Earthquake of March 11

I am Japanese, and I not only read Japanese news sources for information on earthquake and the Fukushima Nuke Plant but also watch press conferences via the Internet when I can and summarize my findings, adding my observations.

About This Site

Well, this was, until March 11, 2011. Now it is taken over by the events in Japan, first earthquake and tsunami but quickly by the nuke reactor accident. It continues to be a one-person (me) blog, and I haven't even managed to update the sidebars after 5 months... Thanks for coming, spread the word.------------------This is an aggregator site of blogs coming out of SKF (double-short financials ETF) message board at Yahoo.

Along with commentary on day's financial news, it also provides links to the sites with financial and economic news, market data, stock technical analysis, and other relevant information that could potentially affect the financial markets and beyond.

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